| Pyramid of Ity | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ity | ||||||||||||||
| Ancient name |
| |||||||||||||
| Constructed | 8th dynasty | |||||||||||||
Thepyramid of Ity was probably the tomb of PharaohIty [de] ("the father") who reigned during the8th dynasty. It has never been discovered and is known only from a cliff-face inscription atWadi Hammamat in theEastern Desert, where there were several quarries in Pharaonic times.
The name of the pyramid,Baw-Iti ("the power of Ity"), may be a direct reference to the name of thepyramid of Neferefre,Netjeri-baw-Ra-nefer-ef ("the power of Neferefre is divine"), from the5th Dynasty.[1]
The partially damaged inscription records that two ship captains, Ipi and Nikauptah, had been sent on an expedition to the site in order to acquire building material for a pyramid in the first year of Ipi's reign.[2] The inscription's statement of the number of troops on the expedition is damaged and may have been inscribed wrongly, so that it is uncertain what it said: Wolfgang Schenkel reads 200 rowers, 400(?) pioneers (?) and 200rtn,[3] whileChristoffer Theis reads 200 soldiers and 200 emissaries with 200 men (interpreting this last figure as a correction), using line drawings made byLepsius andSethe.[4] In addition to Ipi and Nikauptah, the names of two troop leaders, Thiemsaf and Irinakhti, are recorded. Detailed information on the type and amount of stone they sought is not recorded.
The English EgyptologistFlinders Petrie tentatively identified Ity with the Sixth dynasty PharaohUserkare,[5] whose tomb has not yet been identified, but is probably in the area of Saqqara South known today as Tabbet al-Guesh, north-west of themortuary complex of Pepi I. Petrie's identification relied solely on his estimation of the inscription to the Sixth Dynasty and the fact that Userkare was the only king of this period whose full titulary was not known.[5] This identification is nowadays deemed conjectural[6]
In the 1930s,Cecil Mallaby Firth suggested that the pyramid of Ity might be theHeadless Pyramid atSaqqara. Firth supported this suggestion by reference to some pieces of pink granite and the broken lid of a sarcophagus found there, but could offer no other evidence.[4] The Headless Pyramid has subsequently been identified as the tomb of KingMenkauhor Kaiu of the 5th dynasty and Firth's theory is thus obsolete.[7]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| |||||||||
| Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) |
| ||||||||
| 1st Intermediate Period (2181–2040 BC) |
| ||||||||
| Middle Kingdom (2040–1650 BC) |
| ||||||||
| Second Intermediate (1650–1570 BC) |
| ||||||||
| New Kingdom (1570–1070 BC) |
| ||||||||
